<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Little Impossibilities by C-chan (1001paperboxes)</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28701486">Little Impossibilities</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/1001paperboxes/pseuds/C-chan'>C-chan (1001paperboxes)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Sex, Multi, Other, Relationship Study</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:54:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,143</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28701486</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/1001paperboxes/pseuds/C-chan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It really shouldn’t have worked, what they had going. Kanji was too brash. Naoto was too subtle. And Rise wasn’t even supposed to be there. And yet, being a third in Kanji and Naoto’s relationship made everything better, and Rise couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kujikawa Rise/Shirogane Naoto/Tatsumi Kanji</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Holly Poly 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Little Impossibilities</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/inquisitor_tohru/gifts">inquisitor_tohru</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They never should have made sense together. Probably not any two of them as any sort of dyad, and definitely, especially, not as a triad.</p><p>None of them were even any good at making friends. Kanji was too brash, Naoto was too quiet, and Rise was too famous and busy. When it came to relationships, it was no better. Kanji was painfully shy, Naoto was very oblivious, and Rise was contractually banned from any sort of public romantic exploration until she was thirty.</p><p>And yet, together, they just <em>worked</em>.</p><p>It had been most obvious with Kanji and Naoto; probably <em>because</em> they were so similarly different. A case of opposites attracting, and of adorable crushes germinating into deep-seated romance. But then, Rise had always been there, too, always falling closer and closer into their orbit.</p><p>One day, while they'd been over at the textile shop waiting for Naoto to finish her work for the day, Rise had asked Kanji how it was she fit in. There’d been a long pause, and then he’d reached for a swatch of fabric, rubbing it gently between his fingers as he showed off its delicate floral print. </p><p>“Sometimes,” he explained, “you need a drop of something unexpected to make the colour the right shade. There’s a little red in a lot of blues, and a little blue in a lot of reds. Pinks have yellow. Oranges have green. Naoto and I alone, we’re fine. But you’re like that unexpected splash that makes a colour really stand out. So I guess what I’m saying is, you make us vibrant and shit. ...I’m not really good at explaining metaphors, but you know what I mean, right?”</p><p>And the thing was, Rise thought she did. It wasn’t like she could be around all the time after all; not with her work life, neither with the schedule it entailed, nor the edicts that dictated everything from how often she should go to the gym to how often she could be seen in public with any given individual. But that was part of the brilliance of it all.</p><p>Being seen with one person was a danger; a threat to the nature of Risette’s entire public identity. Being seen with a reformed punk and a top detective who were clearly in love with each other... well, she just had friends from back home, then, and wasn’t it lovely that they had the love that Risette dreamed to find one day?</p><p>No-one ever expected a threesome. It was the perfect cover. And even if they did, all it took was showing off the photos of the perfect couple; pikura that she’d arranged, and pictures of the two of them hanging out with the rest of their high school friends, to convince the naysayers that she was just hanging out with her year-mates in the small group of friends she’d managed to make during her brief hiatus. </p><p>Of course, it took a little more finesse when she was back at home, arranging things so that all would look normal for the press. Keep the windows shut. Keep the curtains drawn. Don’t answer the phone, unless it’s Naoto’s secure line and she recognizes the caller. And definitely don’t answer the door unless you already know who’s on the other side.</p><p>It was a bit of a low-tech media circus, but that’s what made her feel safe to share, to partake fully in what little bits of intimacy she could grasp.</p><p>And, well, grasp she did.</p><p>Kanji liked getting his hair messed and tugged, after all. He’d liked it while his hair was blond and slicked back, and they could turn the overset style into a ruined mess. He liked it even more now that it was black and there was far less keeping it in place. As for Naoto, well, there wasn’t much that she liked having grasped precisely (it was a shame, almost, how particular she was about how one should touch her beautiful chest) but Naoto <em>did</em> always seem to get a gleam in her eyes when Rise grasped the sheets tight as she rode Naoto’s strap-on of choice. So that probably counted as well.</p><p>Not that get-together time always meant sex. Sometimes it was just movie-watching, or cuddling, or chatting and sipping tea and generally enjoying each other’s company. Sometimes, it was trips to the arcade where they would play DDR and shooting games, and Naoto would try to catch Kanji a prize on the claw machine. Sometimes it was trips to the mall, where Rise could offer what styling tips she’d picked up in her time as an idol, fussing over the fit of sleeves and the turning of collars and pant cuffs as she helped her two partners develop their own private styles as they evolved from awkward teenagers to capable young adults.</p><p>Naoto always looked fantastic in a tie, and Rise could not deny having more than one fantasy about her in a three piece suit and suspenders. Kanji needed something that was easier to move in, both for the sake of needlework and for whatever sort of physicality he was going to get up to that day; something that would survive moving heavy boxes of undyed cotton and linen and still look good in front of customers. Short-sleeved button-downs with an under layer worked well in the summer, and she was already thinking about trying to talk him into trying some pullovers in the winter; something with a little weight and pattern, perhaps.</p><p>They’d never eat out during these dates, but they’d pick up take-out, or buy ingredients that they could mix together into a stir-fry or other quick-serve dinner back home. There was nothing like cooking and eating together, and enjoying the simple pleasures of domesticity. Especially since Kanji and Naoto both knew their way around the kitchen. (She joked their cooking lessons were fair payback for her fashion ones.)</p><p>Rise longed for a time when she could stay the night without worrying about what gossip would arise, and what some tabloid would have to say about it in the next morning. But for now, at the end of the day, it was safer to go back home, escorted hand-in-hand by the other two before they, too, went their separate ways. </p><p>And then, it was back to LINE and text messages, and a cute selfie to send a kiss good night to her fans.</p><p>So no, it wasn’t a typical relationship. It was never meant to be.</p><p>She was very much a third in the perfect partnership, after all, able to join in on the fun and slip away, back to whatever her life called her to be next.</p><p>But every time, before saying goodbye, she’d squeeze their hands and tell them how much she couldn’t wait for next time.</p><p>And maybe, sometime, that “next time” would last forever.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>